When you use weight loss meditation techniques, you train your mind, not your body

As a meditation teacher I’ve helped a lot of people lose weight with meditation. And I get a lot of questions on social media and in person.

One comment I often hear is this: “Weight loss is about diet. How can meditation help you lose weight?”

Weight loss meditation techniques help you by training your mind.

You health begins in your mind.

Cravings. Habits. Temptations. Will power. It’s all mind.

The best meditation techniques for weight loss help you to get the right mindset. That makes it easier to lose weight.

Before you eat a chocolate bar, for example, you will have experienced a mental process that leads to the action of eating. You may well have seen a chocolate bar in your mind or imagined the taste of a chocolate bar. This mental process is the trigger, the cause of your desire for chocolate. By changing this desire at its root level your learn to retrain your mind, to completely eliminate your desire for chocolate, even to replace that desire with desire for something healthy.

The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of energy in calories that a person needs to maintain body functioning. BMR effects weight loss because the higher our BMR the quicker we use calories, making us lose weight.

Scientific research (1) shows that people who practice a combination of meditation, yoga and pranayama (breathing techniques used in yoga) have a higher MBR, which makes them lose weight quicker.

Weight loss meditation techniques make it easier to assimilate food

Biological assimilation is the process through which the body breaks down nutrients and then assimilate those nutrients into the body.

However, when we are overly stressed, the body is less able to properly assimilate food and is more likely to store food as fat.

Meditation improves digestion by helping with the assimilation of food.

When you use meditation for weight loss, you stop food cravings

Why can some people control cravings where others struggle?

The answer lies in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex. This is the part of the brain that governs self regulation. When this part of the brain is strong it is easy to control cravings.

Neuroimaging studies reveal that meditators have more activity in this part of the brain. Because of this, meditators can control cravings more easily than other people.

The best meditation techniques for weight loss also stop stress, which helps with comfort eating

So much of both weight gain and weight loss comes down to how stressed we are.

Scientists and health gurus (like Deepak Chopra and Dr Oz) tell us that when we are stressed we pack on pounds.

Two Different Kinds Of Weight Loss Meditation Techniques

Problem is, most people are unconscious to a lot of the thoughts and feelings that run through their minds. They experience a craving. It immediately has an effect on them. They quickly grab something to eat. It all happens before they’re even aware of what’s going on.

To change your thought process you first have to be aware of it.

To take control of your mind you need to slow down.

Two ways to do that:

1) Pratyahara Yoga Meditation For Weight Loss:

Pratyahara is a technique in which we reduce the negative information entering the mind, and increase the positive information.

If for instance, you spend too much time around a negative person, who stresses you out and makes you comfort eat, you can distance yourself from this individual, which will help reduce emotional eating.

Alternatively, if you find that some of your friends inspire you and make you want to lose weight, you can start to hang around with those friends more, which will increase your motivation for weight loss.

Pratyahara is the process of reducing negativity and increasing positivity. Take a look at the link above. It will help you to create an environment and mindset for weight loss.

2) Traditional Meditation Techniques For Weight Loss:

My guide to the top 31 meditation techniques shares everything you will ever need to know about meditation. Read it to learn all the best weight loss meditation techniques.

Meditation will cut out stress and heighten consciousness, making it easy to lose weight.

Next, let’s take a look at some of the best meditations for weight loss.

Tips on using weight loss meditation techniques

There are several key ways in which you can use meditation for weight control:

Mind Body:

Meditation helps to bring our minds and our bodies closer together.

We know from Ayurveda that the body and mind are one. And to be healthy both the body and mind must work together.

Weight loss is often caused by a disconnect between mind and body.

Consider this scenario: You tell yourself you need to exercise but you stay sitting on the couch. There’s a disconnect between what is happening in your mind and what is happening in your body. You need your body to actually respond to your mind. And the way to achieve that is to heighten your mind-body connection. We’ll look at an exercise to heighten your mind body connection in a moment.

Calm and Focus:

Weight loss meditation techniques hep you to feel calm and to stay focused.

This is huge because it helps you to beat your cravings.

A turbulent mind constantly flutters from one thought to the next, thinking chocolate, burger, coke etc. A calm mind doesn’t experience these cravings. A calm mind is in control and does not give in to cravings.

Mindfulness for weight loss:

Mindfulness is about being aware of what’s going on in your mind.

A lot of people are not aware of their mind, which is why their thoughts affect them so greatly.

For instance, they think “I need to chocolate” and automatically go and get chocolate.

A mindful approach would be to say, “Okay, that was just a thought about chocolate, just a thought, it isn’t real, it’s just in my mind I don’t really need chocolate.”

Distancing yourself from your cravings in this way gives you power over them. This helps you to stop giving in to cravings.

Visualisation meditations for weight loss:

Visualizations are meditation techniques that involve the imagination and visual imagery. When you perform a visualisation meditation you create a mental picture of who you really want to be. You then meditate on this picture, which makes you feel that your goal is achievable. This massively boosts your motivation to exercise and lose weight.

Mindfulness Meditation For Weight Loss

Mindfulness is the type of meditation that the likes of Deepak Chopra and Dr. Oz talk about. It is a great meditation for beginners.

Mindfulness is essentially about living in the moment and being conscious of what is happening in the mind.

Best Guided Meditation For Weight Loss

There are lots of free recordings, Youtube videos and podcasts that have guided meditations for weight loss.

Mind Body Meditation For Weight Loss

2) Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Take 10 deep breaths through your nose.

3) We are going to guide consciousness around the body. this will heighten the mind-body connection. Begin by at your feet. Simply be mindful of your feet. Focus on them. Observe and feelings inside or outside your feet. Explore the sensations there. Get in touch (mentally) with your feet.

4) Now move up systematically through your body. Move from feet to ankles to lower legs to upper legs to pelvis to abdomen to chest to shoulders to arms, hands, back up to your shoulders, then your neck, face and finally head.

5) At times you will notice that there is tension in parts of your body. If this is the case, imagine breathing warm air into that area while asking your body to relax. This will alleviate the tension.

Your mind-body connection is now enhanced. You will be more aware of your cravings from now on. You will notice your cravings at their onset. Because of this, you will be able to stop your cravings.

This is a very weight loss meditation technique. It will help you lose weight and stick to your diet.

In this visualisation meditation technique you are going to create a very believable mental image of a perfect you.

You’re going to see yourself as everything you want to be. You’re going to train your mind to recognise what you truly want.

This is going to turbo-charge your weight loss.

1) Sit comfortably with good posture. Make sure your spine is in proper alignment.

2) Close your eyes and focus on your breathing for a few minutes. Relax.

3) This is the fun bit. You are going to systematically build a mental picture of yourself as the person you truly want to be. And don’t you dare go short on me. I want you to visualise yourself as being absolutely amazing. I want your body to be the exact body you want. Everything perfect. Are you ready?

4) Begin with your face. What would your face look like? See it. See your beautiful skin. Notice how there are zero wrinkles. You look beautiful. Imagine it in DETAIL.

5) Your upper body. If you’re a guy you might want a six pack. If you’re a girl you might want a slim and slender look. Imagine your perfect upper body.

6) Legs: Toned? Smooth? How do you want them? Imagine it in detail.

7) Everything else: Fill in any other details of your ideal body.

8) Imagine that this perfect you is doing something amazing to do with weight loss. You’re achieving something you can only achieve once you’ve succeeded in losing weight. Perhaps you’ve just run a marathon. Perhaps you’re standing on a stage with people looking at you. Whatever it is you wish you could achieve, imagine it in detail.

Diet-Meditation Techniques For Weight Control

Jean Kristeller is professor emeritus of psychology at Indiana State University. She states that mindfulness meditation changed the way she thought about weight loss.

“It was more than a light bulb moment,” she said.

After hearing famous mindfulness teacher John Kabat Zinh discuss mindfulness, she decided to start a programs called Mindfulness Based Eating Awareness Training [visit site]

The program teaches people to be more aware of the food they are eating.

In one exercise, participants slowly eat a raisin while paying very close attention to the flavor and sensations of eating.

“People are stunned by the exercise,” she says. “They see that if they eat a few raisins mindfully they can enjoy them as much or more than if they eat a whole box.”

Scientists aren’t the only ones who believe that meditation helps dieting. There are many famous models who have used meditation to lose weight.

Mindful eating helps with diets because it makes you more aware of the process of eating.

Mindfulness makes you aware of the thoughts that initiate your desire for food. It helps you to recognize how you feel about different types of food, and what happens in your mind when you eat. By being more aware of the process of eating you empower yourself to change that process.

One of the best ways to use mindfulness for dieting is with the following technique.

The best mindfulness meditation for weight loss

for this exercise you will need 1 piece of comfort food / junk food that you always eat. Your favorite one.

Go somewhere quiet and peaceful.

Put your junk food on the table / ground a couple of feet in front of you.

Sit comfortably with good posture.

Relax for two minutes

Focus your mind 100% on the sensation of your breath coming and going through the space between your nose and mouth.

Take 25 mindful breaths.

Bring to mind your favorite junk food (the one that’s in front of you).

Focus your mind on the impression of this food in your mind (don’t look at the actual food, focus on the mental impression of the food).

As you focus your mind on the food you will notice that certain thoughts arise. You will have specific thoughts about the food. It is these thoughts that form your negative relationship with food. We need to get rid of these thoughts.

To get rid of the thoughts, every time you experience ANY thought, SEE the thought (imagine you are looking at yourself experiencing the thought, as though you were spectating yourself). Next, say to yourself, “This is just a though. It isn’t reality.”

Finally, imagine blowing that thought away from you until it fully disappears.

This is stage one. We will continue with stage two in a moment. (do not eat the food… yet).

This helps you to eliminate the negative thoughts you have about food.

This technique teaches your mind to get rid of the unhealthy and illogical thoughts and feelings you have about food. In other words, you’re teaching your mind to see the fact that food isn’t relaxation, nor fun, nor luxury, nor anything else. Food is food.

When you did the exercise above, you may have been a little surprised during the exercise when I told you to remove ALL thoughts, even good thoughts. You may have thought at one point (for instance) “Food is nutrition. I should eat healthily.” This is a good thought, isn’t it? So why get rid of it?

The reason for getting rid of all thoughts and not just the bad ones is that thoughts exist in our mind as something of a mesh. Thoughts are like a really badly tangled piece of string. Thinking one good thought doesn’t necessarily lead to another good thought. When you think “I’m going to eat healthy,” your next thought is just as likely to be “No I probably won’t because I have a bad diet” as it is “Yes, I’ll eat healthy and exercise.” Diet meditation techniques help you to remove those thoughts.

Let’s continue with this weight loss meditation technique.

While holding the food in your hand you will once again experience different thoughts.

Take a minute to notice the types of thoughts you are experiencing.

Again, tell yourself that they are only thoughts. They’re not reality, they’re just delusions in your mind.

Now, in order to continue this exercise I’m going to be using the example of a chocolate bar, but you can continue with whatever piece of food you have.

Open up the chocolate bar. Study it. Meditate on it. Focus your mind 100% on the food, on the colors, the smell, the texture and every other aspect of the food.

Again notice the types of thoughts you are experiencing. Tell yourself “These are just thoughts. They are not reality.” Imagine those thoughts floating off into the distance.

Eat the food slowly. Bite into it, hold it in your mouth and stop. Don’t swallow. Meditate on the flavour.

With the food in your mouth, be aware of your thoughts. Tell yourself, “These are just thoughts. They are not reality.” Imagine the thoughts floating off into the distance.

Swallow.

Continue until the food is gone.

This is a powerful techniques that will completely change the way you feel about your favorite food. It will totally alter your mindset towards junk food. And it will massively reduce your cravings and improve your diet.

Using meditation for weight loss when you’re depressed

Do You Comfort Eat? Depression might be the cause. And meditation can help

The majority of people who overeat do so because they have a negative relationship with food. Perhaps the best example of this is people who comfort eat.

For comfort eaters, food isn’t just nutrition, it’s a survival mechanism they use when they feel depressed or stressed. They feel stressed, they want something nice, they eat some tasty food, it makes them feel better. But then they feel bad for eating too much. This makes them aware of their diet. They then feel stressed and depressed. So they eat something nice again and the vicious cycle begins all over again.

A person suffering from comfort eating associates food with depression, stress and relaxation. Food is the thing they go to when feeling depressed. It helps them to relax. It’s all a mental pattern.

The same is true for people who overeat for other reasons.

Some people associate good food with a luxurious lifestyle. They want the luxurious lifestyle so they have to eat lots.

Other people associate food with socialising.

None of these associations are healthy.

Food is food, nothing more.

And those are the best weight loss meditation techniques

You can achieve the perfect body and mind you’re after. The weight loss meditation techniques we’ve looked at will help.

Enlightened people like you and I know that weight loss begins in the mind.

The mind’s ability to stop cravings, to motivate us to lose weight, and to support us through stressful times… those skills are worth far more than anything you can get at the gym.

The right mindset creates the right body.

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